Deal Gives Russia Greater Control Over Abkhazia

President Vladimir Putin has signed an agreement with the leader of Abkhazia binding the breakaway Georgian region closer to Russia and formalizing Moscow's control over this stretch of the Black Sea.

The importance of the Black Sea for Russia has been evident during the Ukraine crisis. Putin justified the annexation of Crimea by saying it would guarantee that NATO warships would never be welcome on the peninsula, the home base of the Black Sea Fleet.